Thursday, January 28, 2010

My dad, in addition to being a champion gymnast as seen in this post, is an engineer by education who can build and fix anything and who worked for the Coca-Cola Company for more than 25 years. He created these costumes for my brother (the Coke can) and my sister (the Coke Machine) to wear on Halloween in the early 70's. He made himself a large Coke machine with buttons that actually pushed and wore it to trick-or-treat with my brother and sister that year, but I don't have a picture of his costume, unfortunately.

Saturday, January 23, 2010

Here are my sister Marian, my cousin Cathy and me in a tree in my grandparents' backyard in South Georgia, circa 1970. Clearly, someone has posed us here for a picture, but my poor sister! I can almost hear the person behind the camera chuckling as he or she decides to snap the photo before rescuing Marian!

Sunday, January 17, 2010

I mentioned that my dad had converted over 2000 old slides into digital format and loaded them onto a digital frame that was displayed between our kitchen and den while we were in Jackson Hole. This frame provided hours of entertainment and laughs for us over Christmas. With that many pictures it didn't matter how many times you looked at the frame, you'd see new photos every time.

I downloaded the pictures onto my hard drive and have been sorting through them to share some on Facebook. I plan to post a series of the more amusing ones here.

This is one of me as a baby that we found quite funny. Clearly car seats of the mid-60's were designed with something other than safety in mind!

Saturday, January 16, 2010

My mother cooked wonderful meals every night while we were in Wyoming over Christmas, and since I've been home, all I have made are things I we had while we were there! Hands down, the favorite at my house is my mom's Buffalo Three-Bean Chili. It makes a ton, but I've made it twice and Hockey Boy and Taylor (the hockey player living with us this school year) and their friends have devoured the leftovers in no time. Coming from my mother, it's a given that this recipe is also pretty healthy.

My friend Kim from 3 Peanuts wrote a post a week ago titled Got Soup? that requested that her readers post their favorite soup recipes and link them on her blog. Well, family, volunteer obligations, generic errands and Valentine Luncheon planning unexpectedly consumed my week, so better late than never, here is my contribution to Kim's collection of soup recipes:

Sauté bison, onions and garlic until cooked. Drain off fat. Stir in other ingredients except lime juice and simmer 25-30 minutes or until ready to serve. Stir in lime juice. Serve toppings on the side.

Should serve at least 12 unless you are feeding very hungry teenage boys!

My mother also fixed this slaw which Robert and I thought was fabulous.

Here are my mother's notes: I have never used the Craisins in this recipe. I have no idea how much is 2# shredded cabbage! I buy a head of green and a head of purple cabbage. I then cut up the cabbage, add shredded carrots and refrigerate in a large baggie, using only what I need. The cut up cabbage keeps a long time in the refrigerator. I at least double the dressing recipe - it will keep forever in the refrigerator and is ready when you need it. I don't use as much of the oil either. I double the recipe except for the oil.

Eloise's note: I used the Craisins and loved them! Being the unorganized cook that I am, I did not mix the main ingredients an hour ahead but rather just before I tossed them with the dressing.

Saturday, January 9, 2010

A few last pictures from our time at my parents' house in Jackson Hole, Wyoming over Christmas:

More elk! This time we saw a group of females and a few juveniles in our backyard in the middle of the afternoon

Close-up of the elk as they saw us and began to retreat (notice the juvenile with his small antlers in the middle)

We climbed the hill and realized they were part of a huge herd of elk (I really need new lenses for my camera that can accommodate wide angles and close-ups better, seeing as how I come across opportunities for shots like these so often in my regular life - ha!)

I hope you can get an idea of how many elk there were!

Robert and I had fun pulling Vivian around our track on the sled (notice that Baby Sarah came along for the ride)

My mom's sister also has a home in Jackson Hole. She and some of her family came for dinner one night (left to right: my sister-in-law Megan, me, my Aunt Judy, my mom, my cousin Nancy)

Will, Robert and my Uncle Frank catch a little football

Dinner (Wine bottles are among the elite few containers that are acceptable on the dinner table. My dad's contraption that keeps his cans cold is also exempt)

Nancy's son Spencer and Dots joined us for our dessert of peppermint ice cream pie . Lucky for Dots the Container Police didn't see that Coke can...

My mom and my niece and nephews partook in a spirited game of Bottle Tops

I had fun helping my nephew Matt with the new Harry Potter game he got for his DS

I love my cute little niece! (She is also my goddaughter.)

As you can tell, we had a wonderful Christmas in Wyoming with my parents and my brother and his family. My sister and her family arrived from Georgia the afternoon before we came home, but sadly I neglected to get any pictures with them.

Pictured above, starting in upper left and moving clockwise:

Married for 27 years to Robert, three kids: Will (23), Vivian (20) and Dots (17) ~~~~
Majored in mathematics at SMU, taught elementary school for six years before Will was born, currently tutoring math ~~~~
Things I enjoy: playing duplicate bridge, working NY Times crossword puzzles, reading good books, entertaining, visiting with friends, planning trips, traveling, playing board games, spending time with family, cooking, keeping up with old friends ~~~ happy to correspond with other parents about raising a child with special needs

Note about Pictures

I unintentionally contaminated all of the pictures on my blog when I changed my privacy settings on Flickr. I am working backwards to correct them all, but it is quite a tedious procedure! If you encounter a post with error messages from Flickr where the pictures should be, then I haven't gotten to that post yet. Please let me know and I will update it immediately. Thanks for your patience!